Best int. amp for AKG K1000's-Cary, Manley, Creek?

Try the Sonic Impact before spending more. While I think the T-Amp is rubish with speakers (mine are 96db at 4ohm-near ideal), it really improves with headphones-particularly Senn 650's and AKG 1000's. Quite frankly, with the Senn 650's the SI doesn't give up much ground to the Singlepower Supra.

There is not a headphone jack on the Simaudio integrated amps only the stand alone preamps have them.
Regards,
Ed

Edman, no need for a headphone jack with the K1000's. They come stock with bare wires so they can be hooked up to speaker teminals. You can have an adapter cable made to convert them to a standard 1/4" headphone plug if you want to use them with head amps.

The place to read about K1000 amping options is at www.head-fi.org where there are many threads in the archives that are right on topic. The Sonic T Impact amp is something like $39, and is fully digital. Cheap looking, but excellent sounding. You can do better, but at a price. The Audio Valve RKV tube amp is wonderful with the K1000's, and goes for about $700 in the used market (without the companion "Impedanzer" which you wouldn't need for the K1000's but would need for lower impedance headphones). The RKV is definitely a "looker" and would fit nicely in an office environment (it comes in black with gold trim or in an silver look).

I used a Cary 2A3i and currently own an Aspen Audio 833 and an Audiovalve RKV. If your taste runs toward rock or funk or R&B, go with the Audiovalve. If more classical/jazz/acoustic, go Cary. For compact size and low heat output, Audiovalve. For ability to drive mod/high eff speakers and multiple inputs, go Cary. Aspen Audio is a nice alternative at a much more attractive price. I have not heard, but many folks swear by the Cary 300bsei as the ultimate tube amp for dynamic phones. The Carys will be about 2-3x the cost of the RKV, the Aspen 60%. Hard to go wrong with any of these amps.

HOw did this work out for you? I have a Cary 300 SEI and am waiting for a pair of K1000s.

I use mine with an ASL AQ1001DT in triode mode (30wpc in triode). Very lush (tube dependent obviously) and have no desire to try anything else out. (did try it with solid state and wasn't happy). So can't say I've compared it with much, but these headphones have.

I thought the grado rs-1 with ra-1 and senn 600 were the top phones for a realistic price, but the k1000 has completely trumped both and not by a little. Good luck and keep us posted on what you go with.

Rob

How's the bottom end? Also, what are the power tubes in the ASL? Are those KT88s?

My K1000 deal fell throug and I sold my HD650s. Do you know anyone looking to sell their K1000s??

thanx for responding.

I use a Coincident 300B parallel SET amp (18W/ch)with my K1000s, a nice match.

jb